


Thank you, Erwin

by aratheli



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, I was ridiculously high when i wrote this, Im actually really proud of this? Huh?, M/M, Spoilers, a possible ending, levi's death, post 136
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aratheli/pseuds/aratheli
Summary: In the final moments of his life, Levi finally understands why Erwin and Armin are similar, but incomparable.(Someone posed the question "What if Levi goes off with a 'Thank you, Erwin' to get that symmetry?" and I said FUCK OKAY?)
Relationships: Armin Arlert & Erwin Smith, Armin Arlert & Levi, Levi & Erwin Smith, Levi/Erwin Smith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 87





	Thank you, Erwin

**Author's Note:**

> I was super baked when I wrote this, and after a day I read it through again sober and made a few edits :)

The world was dark, but Levi was positive it had just been daytime. He was blinking, he could feel it; but no light appeared to help him understand what he was hearing. The roaring of what he imagined was an inferno sounded familiar, but so did the choppy voices coming from every direction. He could depict no words, nor could he place names or faces. Whatever surface he was lying on trembled with every footstep, and suddenly Levi shivered.

“Captain... Captain?!” Levi manages to make out through the muck, and something firm presses against his forehead, and then his cheek, and then his chest. These frantic motions stopped with a strike to his diaphragm, and colour and light flooded vision. 

“Captain! H-Hey, hang on. Annie! No, Gabi, be careful!” 

Oh. It was Armin. They were fighting Eren’s Founding Titan. He was swinging to the neck after he jumped off of Falco to find the explosives’ trigger when--

“Oh, shit. He must’ve hit his head pretty hard!” Jean.

“It’s a miracle he landed in the rib cage when he fell.” That’s Mikasa.

“Is he still alive?! Let me see!” Connie was here too.

“Hey…” Levi drawled, but when he drew breath in, he choked on blood. 

Armin’s eyes came into view, and they told him a story. Zeke was dead, and Eren was next. Levi pushed the trigger and was blown back by the explosion and hit his head on Eren’s collarbone, but slid down to rest on the bottom of the Founding Titan’s sternum. Levi’s blood smear led them right to him, and the kids were relieved to know he had survived, even just barely. 

“Is it done?” He gasped between fits of coughing, a generous hand rolling his head to the side to not spit it all on his own face. 

“Captain, don’t speak! Mikasa, give me your…”

The eyes turned away, and white light blinded him again. The voices slurred together, too, and paying attention was growing increasingly difficult. 

Armin’s eyes told Levi that Zeke was dead, and that boy couldn’t lie to save his life. Zeke was dead. Finally.

In what felt like moments before this, Levi was positive he would botch his final order from Erwin. Falco flew them around the Rumbling to give Gabi and him a better view of an attack point, but Levi could only focus on the disappointment Erwin must’ve had on his face while he was watching him. And now…

And now, Armin was telling him that Zeke was dead.

“Yes, Captain! Zeke is dead! ...But please, save your breath! We’re--”

His sigh of relief came in the form of an image of Erwin smiling at him, and the sun burst through the clouds to warm him up at last. He could rest now. He did it.

“He’s turning blue…”

Levi couldn’t believe it. All the suffering could finally go away. Fuck Zeke and fuck Eren. He just wanted to be done with it all.

“Sir, please don’t say that--”

And he managed to live long enough after to bathe in the glory of it, albeit red and sticky. It was fine: he could wash up and they could go out for dinner.

“Mikasa, it’s still bleeding!”

“I’m going to squeeze his leg off if I tie it tighter!”

"What did he say?"

But he was going to miss these kids, no matter how much fatherly guilt he felt when he looked at them.

“Captain...who are you talking to?” The fear in this person's voice was gone, and in poured sorrow.

Yeah, it was that blonde kid. The one who lit up when the ocean came into conversation...when there was an old problem that needed a new and ever-evolving solution. The eyes said it all. The passion, the heartbreak, and the drive to uncover the meaning of everything. And when Levi saw him, he knew that the resemblance was uncanny.

Erwin’s eyes were capable of telling a story composed of emotions Levi didn’t know he could relate to. Levi has never had a father in his life; but the bombardment of grief he felt when Erwin talked about his father was so strong, it reached out and pulled Levi’s mom into the picture. That night when Erwin divulged that his father was killed at a young age, Levi blurted out that his mom died too. There was obviously more to the commander's story, and Levi felt stupid for cutting him off, but the silence after his interjection punched him in the gut, and something buried deep inside him cracked through its walls. Erwin noticed, like he always fucking does. 

“Sorry,” Levi had said, exhaling shakily. His hands were clammy and his cravat was too tight. His throat burned and his chest ached. “I’ve never said that out loud before.” How embarrassing. 

Levi never learned the blonde kid’s story. He hadn't the courage to ask. What was his name? He wanted to remain distant and authoritarian, for he knew the consequences of getting too close and attached. All he could gather was that he was from the town where everything began, and that his intellect was rivalling Erwin’s. No...Levi couldn’t get emotionally involved with him. He’d end up doing something stupid for him, like sending him off to his death. Or...

“Does anyone have clean water? We can pour it on--”

He needed to preserve the flare in those blue eyes. And did he, now that Zeke was dead? Could they all rest? Levi was tired of fighting, and he knew that boy was too. They all were. Finally, he could give them the thing they deserved the most. Peace.

But it was more than that. Erwin’s eyes were oceans of curiosity that some might call childish. He wanted answers; even until his dying breath. The world was limitless, and the truth would be hunted down forever. It was Levi's biggest reason for his undying admiration for the man.

Those eyes are here again, staring at him, tears spilling over.

Levi opened his mouth, and something thick trickled down his cheek to his ear. It felt strangely pleasant. He laughed. Levi was glad Erwin told him about his father.

“Huh?! What?!”

“What is he--”

“Shh, I can’t hear! My father? What?!”

Erwin had given him purpose. Erwin had given him strength. And here it seeps away, never to be seen again; but he couldn’t ask for a better ending to his stupid story. Thank you, Erwin.

“Uh...I’m not--”

Thank you, Erwin. 

“Oh, God…”

“What do we do?!”

Thank you, Erwin.

"I'm sorry..." 

“Captain?! Captain?!”

"No...not again..."

Thank you, Erwin. 

**Author's Note:**

> Weed is helpful, no? I'm just proud of myself for completing something. Thanks for reading regardless!


End file.
